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  From: Mark Newton <newton@atdot.dotat.org>
  To  : Richard Walford <rwalford@picknowl.com.au>
  Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 12:19:13 +0930

Re: Another view of ADSL provision

On Wed, Apr 25, 2001 at 11:25:29AM +0930, Richard Walford wrote:

 > Bandwith is a limited resource and that is why we have to pay so much for
 > it. 

I think you've perhaps missed some of the technological advances of the
last ten years if you think this is still true.

Scarcity is the reason Telstra used to set their long-distance phone rates
80 years ago, when the link between Adelaide and Perth was an expensive,
high-maintenance, limited capacity copper cable.

Fibre-optic cable is essentially limitless in capacity these days.  With
iridium-doped passive amplifiers, you can upgrade the capacity of a cable
by upgrading the equipment at each end of it, so you don't (technically)
need to lay new fibre to increase bandwidth supply (the fact that Telstra
lays new fibre anyway speaks volumes of the profits they reap from their
existing investment;  They simply don't need to care about how cheap it
is to upgrade existing equipment, because they're so cash-flush that it's
just as easy to buy new stuff).

Bandwidth really *is* plentiful.  And, in the event that it ever does run
out, the fees people would have been paying to use it will more than pay
for additional investments in infrastructure.

Scarcity arguments no longer hold water in telecommunciations;  Telstra
uses them as a cynical ploy to justify high prices when they're talking 
to Ministers, Bandwidth Enquiries, and other people who just don't understand,
but it doesn't take much insight to see through that sham.

 > I would suggest that we stay tuned to developments in the digital
 > broadcasting arena,

That's a joke, right?

   - mark

--------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried an internal modem,                    newton@atdot.dotat.org
     but it hurt when I walked.                          Mark Newton
----- Voice: +61-4-1620-2223 ------------- Fax: +61-8-82231777 -----

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